in my small corner of the world, i guess most of the people would be farmers, or maybe cattle...

we have a nice hospital that employes many peeps, a large walmart, that also employes many peeps, we have a chicken processing plant (that i worked at for 2 day),that smells really bad, we used to have a large tire plant here, but it closed down a few years ago...it paid great, it was hard work..but the pay and benefits were fantastic..but i guess farming would be our primary job here...

we grow feed corn (corn that is fed to livestock) tobacco, wheat, soy bean, milo, which provide many jobs...espically tobacco which is very very labor intensive..

this is what i know about tobacco

first your have to plant or "set" the tobacco" which means riding on a piece of equipment hooked to a tractor, feeding the tabacco slips (small tobacco plants) in to an augger kinda thing....

topping tobacco...when it starts forming flowers at the top, someone must walk plant to plant and cut the flower off...

oiling tobacco...im not sure what this is, but it has something to do with insects...

constant hoeing....real hoes...

worming...some type of worm like tobacco, and you must walk plant to plant and pick them off...

cutting tobacco....back breaking labor...walking from plant to plant and taking a large knife type thingy and chopping the plant off at the base, and hanging them on long stick, then hanging them on the bacco trailer

hanging tabacco...climbing up in tall tobacco barns and "hanging" the sticks of baccer in a baccer barn...

while its in the barn, it must be checked several times a day...unless it is "air cured" which means it is just hanging in the barn and drying out...

but if it is "smoke cured" the farmer must check on it 5-6 times a day...there is sawdust on the floor of the barn and it is set on fire....a very slow fire...smoking fire...but it must be really watched or the barn might burn down..

finally...stripping baccer...this i have done...you have one person, known as the runner, that will keep baccer in front of you...you pick up each stalk, strip the tabaccer leaves off, do a fancy little tie, and toss it to the side to go to market...

My city has around 20,000 people who live in it. The county has roughly 80,000. It's a small river city town sitting along the Ohio river, about 85 miles to the east of Cincinnati. This area was once a thriving industrial place, until the mill had went out back around 35 years ago.

You can look across the river and see Kentucky, where the hills are pretty during the spring, summer, and fall seasons.

i reside almost dead center in of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the largest urban areas in the country. I am not going to look it up but I feel safe in saying that the Metroplex comprises of about 6.5 million residents. Like many areas east of the Mississippi River, our growth commenced after WWII.

Actually, the area began to really grow in the seventies. At that time, the growth came from immigration from other states, I was one of them. I think that this culture of immigration from other states was very good for all concerned. The "yankees" brought there worldliness but left behind their cold impersonal nature. The natives, well, got smarter and more cosmopolitan and shook off some of the "hick" in them. The result is a world class area in many ways from business to the arts. As an example, I will see somebody wearing a cowboy hat about once a month. There really is not much accent here anymore.

In the nineties, the growth in residents began to be from other nations. With in three miles of me there are full sized Arab, Indian and Asian grocery stores. There is so much diversity that everybody is a minority. The result is relative harmony.

Ashland is a tiny jewel-box of a town set in the Rogue River Valley. Main Street is kind of an old fashioned downtown look full of eclectic shops and the Oregon Shakespear Festival. We have several parks but the main attraction is Lithia Park which was designed by the same feller that created the Golden Gate park in San Fran.

This town is very pet- and walker-friendly. There is even a bicycle taxi to ride around town in if you get tired.

The only real drawback to living in Ashland is that it's expensive and chock full to the brim of hippies.. old ones and the new brand that smell horrible.

theSkwirl's comments lead me to add a few points. We are not nearly as redneck as people perceive. Yes, the area is pretty much a republican bastion. But it is in its own way progressive.

For example, my city and many others have dog parks. We have a public swimming pool that is a water park with water slides and amenities to rival commercial concerns. Our senior center has an Olympic size indoor pool with two water slides. The city offers residents over 65 tuition for two three hour community courses per semester so that they can pursue a degree in any number of world class AA degrees at excellent community colleges.

Let me start this out by saying I moved here 2 years after my divorce! (I'll be here 6 years this dec.!)I live in the Country....about 4 or so miles from the "Town"!The "Town" has a "Western-Auto", and 5 or 6.. Mom and Pop restaurants...., a hand full of Gas stations...and A Food Lion....

This use to be a very Productive Community!!The Small Farmers took the biggest hit several years ago....after Tobacco became a problem... and the Gov. stopped the Support leaving it all in the Hands of the Tobacco Companies....enough said about all that!!! There is One factory in town...that makes Tanks for Oil trucks.... most of the others have closed down..or are scheduled too some time this year!Where I live....most everyone are very friendly!! I have Learned that If someone Waves at me...doesn't mean that they Know me!!! Lots of Gossip in these parts!!! I'm sure they have heard of me..and Know what I drive!!! But yanno...I love it here...!!!!!If someone gets Sick...or Hurt....someone will always have a "Benefit" for them of some type...!!! I know you said no Links....but this completes what I have said!! "Way Out Here"!Greenie for the interesting blog!

I don't have a town. I live in the country and love it. It's about 6 miles to the closest town and it depends on which way you turn which one you will wind up in. But I guess BMW is the bigest employer around here and they are allways hiring so there growing bigger and bigger. Then there's the regular small mom and pop meat and 3's and One has a Wal-mart.I spend most of my time here and there so I don't have a town. The fokes here are all good people and care for each other it seems.I figure this is where I will end lifes journy and I couldn't pick a better place.

My adopted town is Delta, B.C....which sits about 25 minutes outside Vancouver, B.C. I also sit approximately 25 minutes from the Washington border...so I LOVE to hop across the border and do a little bit of shopping. I also buy my gas in the states cuz it's cheap compared to Canada. So is the cheese...eggs...and milk. Whoever is riding with me across the border is usually treated with a quick lil' song of "God Bless America" or "Oklahoma"...just to irritate the tar out of them.

The lower mainland (which includes Delta and other surrounding cities around the Vancouver area) is huge (Over 2.4 million last count)...and I feel like a tiny guppy in a big bad sea at times.

With that being said...the scenery and the activities to do in this area are amazing. You can ALWAYS find something to do...and a lot of things are free of charge.

I think the main industries in this area are fishing and farming. But we also have a huge film and theatre presence. They don't call Vancouver..."North Hollywood" for nothing. Lots of TV series and movies are filmed in Vancouver and the surrounding areas. Here's some examples off the top of my head...Smallville, X-Files, Supernatural, The L-Word, 4400, three different Stargate series, MacGyver, Quantum Leap, Dark Angel, The Fog, Snakes on a Plane, Twilight Movies, Juno, Fringe, Deck the Halls, Jumanji, Juno, X-Men, I Robot, 21 Jump Street, Stephen King's It, The Fugitive, Bionic Woman, and The Sixth Day. I told you there were lots.

Well...this is just a glimpse of my town. Of course...I could write much more...but I think that's enough for now.

Do I think of this place as my home? I'm not sure because I actually prefer much smaller towns...but it's definitely a great place to hang your hat.

I work in Frankenmuth, which we refer to as "Michigan's Little Bavaria". It was settled by German settlers, and to this day maintains it's Bavarian architecture. Then there is Birch Run with the Out Lets Mall...a huge attraction for travelers. We have an area we call "Old Town" Saginaw. Old Town Saginaw Saginaw has maintained a lot of it's older buildings. Some area's is like a walk in history. Our main public Library is cool! Hoyt Library

Then, there is the Potter St. Train Station. It had caught fire back in the 80's, and there had been talk of demolishing it after the fire, but there was such an outcry, that it is a work in progress being restored. Potter St Train Station

And of course, with the good, there is the "bad". There are areas of Saginaw I wouldn't advise a traveler to go....like deep in it's East Side. Unless you have a bullet proof vest and armored car. Ok..that's almost a bit drastic. But seriously, when going through the East Side, it is advisable to stay on the main streets like Genessee, Johnson, and Washington. Start getting into S. 4th...and you're in trouble.

You get into Saginaw Township, and it's nicer homes and such. And some of the people are friendly, and some are stuck up. Oh well, no town is perfect. Saginaw is designed more as a tourist area. We used to have a LOT of GM plants in the area when the auto industry was thriving. The collapse has hurt the economy here.